Upload and download of position reference data

ABSTRACT

An apparatus, a method and a computer program, the apparatus comprising: collection circuitry configured to collect position reference data, wherein the collected position reference data is for assisting another apparatus to determine a position of the another apparatus based upon wireless signals received by the another apparatus; receiver circuitry configured to receive control data relating to controlling the transmission of collected position reference data by the apparatus; transmitter circuitry configured to transmit collected position reference data; and processing circuitry configured, in dependence upon the received control data, to selectively control transmission of collected position reference data by the transmitter circuitry.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the upload and downloadof position reference data. In particular, they relate to the upload anddownload of position reference data relating to the position ofcommunication access points.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Many electronic apparatuses, such as mobile telephones, are configuredto communicate with remote access points using radio frequency signals.If an electronic apparatus knows the location of a remote access point,it may calculate its absolute position by using the location of theaccess point and radio frequency signals that are received from theaccess point.

However, in many situations, an electronic apparatus is not able tocalculate its absolute position because it does not know the location ofthe remote access point it is communicating with.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments of theinvention there is provided an apparatus, comprising: collectioncircuitry configured to collect position reference data, wherein thecollected position reference data is for assisting another apparatus todetermine a position of the another apparatus based upon wirelesssignals received by the another apparatus; receiver circuitry configuredto receive control data relating to controlling collection of positionreference data by the apparatus and/or transmission of collectedposition reference data by the apparatus; transmitter circuitryconfigured to transmit collected position reference data; and processingcircuitry configured, in dependence upon the received control data, tocontrol at least one of: collection of position reference data by thecollection circuitry, and transmission, by the transmitter circuitry, ofposition reference data collected by the collection circuitry.

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments of theinvention there is provided a method, comprising: enabling reception, atan apparatus, of control data relating to controlling collection ofposition reference data by the apparatus and/or transmission ofcollected position reference data by the apparatus, the positionreference data being for assisting another apparatus to determine aposition of the another apparatus based upon wireless signals receivedby the another apparatus; and enabling, in dependence upon the receivedcontrol data, control of at least one of: collection of positionreference data by the apparatus, and transmission, by the apparatus, ofcollected position reference data.

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments of theinvention there is provided a computer program, comprising: instructionsfor enabling an apparatus to receive control data, the received controldata relating to controlling collection of position reference data bythe apparatus and/or transmission of collected position reference databy the apparatus, the position reference data being for assistinganother apparatus to determine a position of the another apparatus basedupon wireless signals received by the another apparatus; andinstructions for enabling, in dependence upon the received control data,control of at least one of: collection of position reference data by theapparatus, and transmission, by the apparatus, of collected positionreference data.

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments of theinvention there is provided an apparatus, comprising: means forcollecting position reference data, wherein the collected positionreference data is for assisting another apparatus to determine aposition of the another apparatus based upon wireless signals receivedby the another apparatus; means for receiving control data relating tocontrolling collection of position reference data by the apparatusand/or transmission of collected position reference data by theapparatus; means for transmitting collected position reference data; andmeans for controlling at least one of: collection of position referencedata by the means for collecting, and transmission, by the means fortransmitting, of position reference data collected by the means forcollecting.

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments of theinvention there is provided an apparatus, comprising: collectioncircuitry configured to collect position reference data, wherein theposition reference data is for assisting another apparatus to determinea position of the another apparatus based upon wireless signals receivedby the another apparatus; positioning circuitry configured to determinea position of the apparatus; transceiver circuitry configured totransmit, to a remote location, position information indicating aposition of the apparatus, and configured to receive, in reply, controldata, wherein the control data relates to: controlling collection ofposition reference data, when the apparatus is at the indicatedposition, and/or transmission of collected position reference data bythe apparatus, when the apparatus is at the indicated position; andprocessing circuitry configured, in dependence upon the received controldata, to control at least one of: collection of position reference databy the collection circuitry, and transmission, by the transceivercircuitry, of position reference data collected by the collectioncircuitry.

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments of theinvention there is provided an apparatus, comprising: processingcircuitry, configured to enable a transmitter to transmit control datato a plurality of further apparatuses, each further apparatus being at aremote location from the apparatus, the control data relating to thecollection and/or transmission of position reference data by the furtherapparatuses, and wherein position reference data is for assistinganother apparatus, different to the apparatus, to determine a positionof the another apparatus based upon wireless signals received by theanother apparatus.

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments of theinvention there is provided a method, comprising: enabling an apparatusto transmit, to a plurality of further apparatuses, control data, eachfurther apparatus being at a remote location from the apparatus, thecontrol data relating to collection and/or transmission of positionreference data by the further apparatuses, and wherein positionreference data is for assisting another apparatus, different to theapparatus transmitting position reference data, to determine a positionof the another apparatus based upon wireless signals received by theanother apparatus.

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments of theinvention there is provided a computer program, comprising: instructionsfor enabling an apparatus to transmit control data, to a plurality offurther apparatuses, each further apparatus being at a remote locationfrom the apparatus, the control data relating to collection and/ortransmission of position reference data by the further apparatuses, andwherein position reference data is for assisting another apparatus,different to the apparatus transmitting position reference data, todetermine a position of the another apparatus based upon wirelesssignals received by the another apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of various examples of embodiments of thepresent invention reference will now be made by way of example only tothe accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic of an apparatus;

FIG. 2 illustrates communication between apparatuses;

FIG. 3 illustrates a portion of position reference data;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic of a server;

FIG. 5 illustrates communication between apparatuses;

FIG. 6 illustrates a method of uploading position reference data to aserver;

FIG. 7 illustrates a further method of uploading position reference datato a server;

FIG. 8 illustrates a method of forming a database of position referencedata and providing the database to an apparatus;

FIG. 9 illustrates a geographical schematic of the database; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a method of updating the database and providing theupdated database to an apparatus; and

FIG. 11 illustrates a geographical schematic of the updated database.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The Figures illustrate an apparatus 10, comprising: collection circuitry18 configured to collect position reference data 26, wherein thecollected position reference data 26 is for assisting another apparatusto determine a position of the another apparatus based upon wirelesssignals received by the another apparatus; receiver circuitry 16configured to receive control data 28/53 relating to controllingcollection and/or transmission of position reference data 26 by theapparatus 10; transmitter circuitry 14 configured to wirelessly transmitcollected position reference data 26; and processing circuitry 12configured, in dependence upon the received control data 28/53, tocontrol at least one of: collection of position reference data 26 by thecollection circuitry 18, and transmission, by the transmitter circuitry14, of position reference data 26 collected by the collection circuitry18.

FIG. 1 illustrates an apparatus 10. The apparatus 10 may be, forexample, a hand portable electronic apparatus such a mobile telephone, apersonal digital assistant or a personal music player. The apparatus 10comprises processing circuitry 12, transmitter circuitry 14, receivercircuitry 16, collection circuitry 18 and a memory 22. Optionally, theapparatus 10 may comprise positioning circuitry 20.

The processing circuitry 12 is configured to receive an input from thereceiver circuitry 16, the collection circuitry 18 and the positioningcircuitry 20. The processing circuitry 12 is also configured to providean output to the transmitter circuitry 14, and to read from and write tothe memory 22. The processing circuitry 12 is operationally coupled tothe each element of circuitry 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 and any number orcombination of intervening elements can exist (including no interveningelements).

The transmitter circuitry 14 may be configured to transmit wirelesssignals such as radio frequency signals and the receiver circuitry 16may be configured to receive wireless signals such as radio frequencysignals. In some embodiments of the invention, the transmitter circuitry14 and the receiver circuitry 16 may form transceiver circuitry. Thetransmitter circuitry 14 and the receiver circuitry 16 may share some orall components.

In some embodiments of the invention, the transmitter circuitry 14 andthe receiver circuitry 16 may be configured to communicate using shortrange radio frequency signals, such as signals in accordance with a802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN/WiFi Alliance) protocol, aWiMax protocol, a Bluetooth protocol, an ultra low power Bluetoothprotocol, or protocols relating to UWB or Zigbee technologies.

In these embodiments, the short range radio signals may, for example,have a transmission range of 100 meters or less. In some of theseembodiments of the invention, the short range radio signals may, forinstance, have a transmission range of 10 meters or less.

In other embodiments of the invention, the transmitter circuitry 14 andthe receiver circuitry 16 may be configured to communicate using longrange radio frequency signals. For example, they may be configured tocommunicate in a cellular network using long range radio frequencysignals. For example, the cellular network may operate according to oneor more of the GSM, UMTS, IS-95 or CDMA 2000 protocols. Long range radiofrequency signals may, for example, have a transmission range of up toaround 3 to 5 miles.

It should be understood that the transmitter circuitry 14 and thereceiver circuitry 16 may or may not operate in accordance with the sameprotocol. For example, in some embodiments of the invention, thetransmitter circuitry 14 may be configured to transmit long range radiofrequency signals and the receiver circuitry 16 may be configured toreceive short range radio frequency signals.

The positioning circuitry 20 is configured to determine a position ofthe apparatus 10. For example, in some embodiments of the invention, itmay be a satellite positioning receiver. In an alternativeimplementation, it may be a receiver that is configured to operate in acellular telephone network that can determine a position of theapparatus 10 using received cellular signals. For example, thepositioning circuitry 20 may share some or all of its components withthe receiver circuitry 16.

The term “satellite positioning receiver” is considered to relate to anytype of satellite positioning system. The satellite positioning receivermay be configured to receive positioning information from a plurality ofsatellites and to determine a position of the apparatus 10 using thereceived positioning information. For example, the satellite positioningreceiver may be configured to receive positioning information from one,some or all of the following satellite constellations: the GlobalPositioning System (GPS), the Russian system GLONASS and the proposedEuropean positioning system Galileo.

The satellite positioning receiver may also be configured to operate inaccordance with one or more satellite based augmentation systems, suchas: the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European GeostationaryNavigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multi-functional SatelliteAugmentation System (MSAS) or the GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation(GAGAN).

The collection circuitry 18 is configured to collect position referencedata 26 from one or more remote communication access points. Each remotecommunication access point may enable the apparatus 10 to communicatewith further remote apparatuses by providing an onward communicationpath to those further remote apparatuses. For example, in someembodiments of the invention, the communication access points may enablethe apparatus 10 to connect to the internet.

The collection circuitry 18 may be configured to collect positionreference data by scanning for long or short range radio signals andreceiving long or short range radio signals. In some embodiments, thecollection circuitry 18 is configured to scan for and receive radiosignals such as signals in accordance with a WLAN/WiFi Allianceprotocol, a WiMax protocol, a Bluetooth protocol, an ultra low powerBluetooth protocol, or with protocols relating to UWB or Zigbeetechnologies. In other embodiments, the collection circuitry 18 isconfigured to scan for and receive long range radio signals, such assignals in accordance with one or more of the GSM, UMTS, IS-95 or CDMA2000 protocols.

The collection circuitry 18 may share some or all of its components withthe receiver circuitry 16.

Position reference data 26 enables the location of communication accesspoints to be determined. An example of a portion 100 of positionreference data 26 collected by the collection circuitry 18 is given inFIG. 3. The illustrated portion 100 relates to a single communicationaccess point. In this example, the portion 100 of position referencedata 26 includes identification data 102, position data 104 andmeasurement data 106. In other examples, a portion of position referencedata 26 may not include measurement data 106.

The identification data 102 indicates an identification code of acommunication access point. This may have been included in a radiosignal transmitted by a communication access point. The position data104 and the measurement data 106 together provide an indication of thelocation of the transmitting communication access point. The positiondata 104 indicates a position at which the collection circuitry 18received a radio signal transmitted from the communication access point.The position of the apparatus 10 may be determined, for example, usingthe positioning circuitry 20. For example, the indicated position may bean exact geographical location given by latitude and longitudemeasurements determined by a satellite positioning receiver.Alternatively, the indicated position may be a geographical area (e.g. ageographical area indicated by a code relating to a particular cellularnetwork cell or cells).

The measurement data 106 indicates where the communication access pointis located with respect to the position of the apparatus 10. Forexample, in some embodiments, the measurement data 106 may indicate thelocation of the communication access point by indicating a distance anda direction of the communication access point relative to the positionof the apparatus 10. In other embodiments, only a relative distance maybe indicated by the measurement data 106. In these embodiments, therelative distance indicates the location of the communication accesspoint by identifying an area in which the communication access point islocated.

For example, in some embodiments of the invention, the collectioncircuitry 18 obtains the measurement data 106 by measuring the receivedsignal strength intensity (RSSI) of a radio signal transmitted by thecommunication access point. It may also measure the direction from whichthe radio signal was received using a directional antenna.

The manner in which the collection circuitry 18 obtains the measurementdata 106 may depend upon the type of the radio signal that is beingscanned for and received by the collection circuitry 18.

In situations where the position reference data 26 does not includemeasurement data 106, it may be possible to deduce the location of thetransmitting communication access point by using the position data 104and some other known property of signals transmitted by thecommunication access point. For example, if it is known that acommunication access point transmits signals with a certain transmissionpower and the position data 104 indicates a position at which thecollection circuitry 18 received a radio signal transmitted from thecommunication access point, an area in which the communication accesspoint is located can be determined.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that an alternative namefor a portion 100 of position reference data 26 is a “fingerprint”. Adatabase of fingerprints (or a database information derived fromfingerprints or by using fingerprints) is known as a “radiomap”.

If a fingerprint/radiomap relating to one or more communication accesspoints is provided to an apparatus, the apparatus can determine its ownposition by receiving a radio signal from one or more of thecommunication access points and using the fingerprint/radiomap as areference.

The memory 22 of the apparatus 10 may store computer programinstructions 24, collected position reference data 26, a database 53 ofposition reference data 26 and instruction data 28. The database 53 ofposition reference data 26 and/or the instruction data 28 may beconsidered to be “control data”. This is explained in more detail below.

Although the memory 22 is illustrated as a single component it may beimplemented as one or more separate components some or all of which maybe integrated/removable and/or may providepermanent/semi-permanent/dynamic/cached storage.

Implementation of the processing circuitry 12 can be in hardware alone,have certain aspects in software including firmware alone or can be acombination of hardware and software (including firmware).

The processing circuitry 12 may operate using instructions that enablehardware functionality, for example, by using executable computerprogram instructions that may be stored on a tangible computer readablestorage medium (e.g. disk, memory etc).

The computer program instructions 24 stored in the memory 22 control theoperation of the apparatus 10 when loaded into the processing circuitry12. The computer program instructions 24 provide the logic and routinesthat enable the apparatus 10 to perform the methods illustrated in FIGS.2, 5, 6, 7 and 8. The processing circuitry 12 is, by reading the memory22, able to load and execute the computer program instructions 24.

The computer program instructions 24 provide: instructions for enablingan apparatus 10 to receive control data 28/53, the received control data28/53 relating to controlling collection and/or transmission of positionreference data 26 by the apparatus 10, the position reference data 26being for assisting another apparatus to determine a position of theanother apparatus based upon wireless signals received by the anotherapparatus; and instructions for enabling, in dependence upon thereceived control data 28/53, control of at least one of: collection ofposition reference data 26 by the apparatus 10, and transmission, by theapparatus 10, of collected position reference data 26

The computer program instructions 24 may arrive at the apparatus 10 viaany suitable delivery mechanism 9. The delivery mechanism 9 may be, forexample, a computer-readable storage medium, a computer program product,a memory device, a record medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD, an article ofmanufacture that tangibly embodies the computer program 24. The deliverymechanism 9 may be a signal configured to reliably transfer the computerprogram 24. The apparatus 10 may propagate or transmit the computerprogram 24 as a computer data signal.

References to ‘computer-readable storage medium’, ‘computer programproduct’, ‘tangibly embodied computer program’ etc. or ‘processor’ and‘processing circuitry’ etc. should be understood to encompass not onlycomputers having different architectures such as single/multi-processorarchitectures and sequential (e.g. Von Neumann)/parallel architecturesbut also specialized circuits such as field-programmable gate arrays(FPGA), application specific circuits (ASIC), signal processing devicesand other devices. References to computer program, instructions, codeetc. should be understood to encompass software for a programmableprocessor or firmware such as, for example, the programmable content ofa hardware device whether instructions for a processor, or configurationsettings for a fixed-function device, gate array or programmable logicdevice etc.

A first method of controlling collection and/or upload of positionreference data 26 by an apparatus 10 will now be described in relationto FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 illustrates a first apparatus 10 communicating directly withsecond, third and fourth apparatuses 50, 60, 70, and indirectly with afifth apparatus 55 (i.e. via the second apparatus 50).

The first apparatus 10 has the same form as that described above inrelation to FIG. 1. For clarity, hereinafter the first apparatus 10 willbe referred to as a mobile apparatus.

The second, third and fourth apparatuses 50, 60, 70 are communicationaccess points. The communication access points 50, 60, 70 may beconfigured to transmit and receive long and/or short range radiosignals. Each communication access point 50, 60, 70 may, for example,enable an apparatus connected to it to communicate with further remoteapparatuses via an onward communication path. For instance, in someembodiments of the invention, some or all of the communication accesspoints may enable the mobile apparatus 10 to connect to the internet.The second, third and fourth apparatuses 50, 60, 70 may have a fixedposition or be movable (e.g. hand portable).

The second, third and fourth communication access points 50, 60, 70 mayoperate in accordance with the same or different protocols. For example,they may operate in accordance with a WLAN/WiFi Alliance protocol, aWiMax protocol, a Bluetooth protocol, an ultra low power Bluetoothprotocol, protocols related to UWB or Zigbee technologies, or a cellularprotocol such as GSM, UMTS, IS-95 or CDMA 2000.

For clarity, hereinafter the third and fourth communication accesspoints 60, 70 will be referred to as WLAN access points.

In some embodiments of the invention, the second apparatus 50 may beconfigured to communicate with the first apparatus 10 using a wiredconnection.

The second apparatus 50 is connected to a fifth apparatus 55 via acommunication link 59. The fifth apparatus 55 may be a server that isremote from the second apparatus 50. For clarity, hereinafter the fifthapparatus 55 will be referred to as a server.

Any number of intervening elements may be present between the fifthapparatus 50 and the server 55 (including no intervening elements). Thecommunication link 59 may a wired communication link, a wirelesscommunication link, or a combination of the two.

In the illustrated embodiment, the second apparatus 50 is acommunication access point for that enables the mobile apparatus 10 tocommunicate in a cellular network. For example, it may be a cellularbase station. For clarity, hereinafter the second apparatus 50 will bereferred to as a cellular base station.

The mobile apparatus 10 may communicate with the server 55 using IP datapackets. While the mobile apparatus 10 communicates with the cellularbase station 50 at a physical level, the cellular base station 50 may beconsidered to be transparent to the type of data that is beingtransmitted at a network level. In other words, the cellular basestation 50 may merely act as a routing node for forwarding data from themobile apparatus 10 to the server 55, or from the server 55 to themobile apparatus 10.

In the first method, the receiver circuitry 16 of the mobile apparatus10 receives control data 28/53 from the server 55. The exampleillustrated in FIG. 1 shows the control data 28/53 being physicallyprovided to the mobile apparatus 10 by the cellular base station 50 inthe form of a radio signal 200. The control data 28/53 indicates to themobile apparatus 10 the manner in which it should collect positionreference data 26 from the WLAN access points 60, 70 and/or transmitcollected position reference data 26 to the server 55.

According to one example of the first method, the control data 28/53indicates to the mobile apparatus 10 the manner in which it shouldcollect position reference data 26 from WLAN access points. Theindication may be explicit or implicit. The processing circuitry 12 ofthe mobile apparatus 10 controls the way in which collection circuitry18 collects position reference data 26, in dependence upon the analysis.

In this example, the mobile apparatus 10 only collects positionreference data 26 in accordance with the control data. For instance, thecontrol data 28/53 may explicitly or implicitly indicate any of thefollowing to the apparatus 10: one or more geographical areas in whichto collect position reference data 26, a time or time period at which tocollect position reference data 26, a frequency at which to collectposition reference data 26 or a desired property for collected positionreference data 26.

FIG. 2 illustrates the mobile apparatus 10 collecting portions 100 ofposition reference data 26 from the WLAN access points 60, 70 byscanning for radio signals 210, 220 transmitted by the WLAN accesspoints 60, 70 and then subsequently receiving and using those radiosignals 210, 220.

Once appropriate position reference data 26 has been collected by themobile apparatus 10, the processing circuitry 12 of the mobile apparatus10 controls the transmitter circuitry 14 to transmit the collectedposition reference data 26 to the server 55. The server 55 then storesthe position reference data 26 in a database 53. The illustrated exampleshows a radio signal 230 including the position reference data 26 beingphysically transmitted to the cellular base station 50.

The transmission of position reference data 26 by the mobile apparatus10 is “selectively controlled” in this example by controlling the way inwhich position reference data 26 is collected by the mobile apparatus 10for subsequent transmission.

The position reference data 26 that is transmitted to the server 55 bythe mobile apparatus 10 may or may not be embedded in other types ofdata that is transmitted by the mobile apparatus 10.

In some embodiments of the invention, every portion 100 of positionreference data 26 which has been collected by the mobile apparatus 10following reception and analysis of the control data is transmitted tothe server 55. In other embodiments, every portion 100 of collectedposition reference data 26 is not transmitted to the server 55.

In order to aid explanation of embodiments of the invention, FIG. 2 onlyillustrates a single mobile apparatus 10, a single cellular base station50 and two WLAN access points 60, 70. However, it should be understoodthat, in practice, the server 55 may provide control data 28/53 to alarge number of apparatuses (e.g. thousands of mobile apparatuses) via,for instance, a large number of cellular base stations. The control dataprovided to a mobile apparatus need not be unique to that particularmobile apparatus (e.g. the same control data 28/53 may be sent to anumber of mobile apparatuses). There may also be large number of WLANaccess points.

Thus, the server may build up a database 53 of position reference data26 by using receiving position reference data from a community ofapparatuses.

As the server's database 53 of position reference data 26 is built up,it may become apparent that more position reference data 26 is beingacquired in certain geographical areas than others. The above methodenables the server 55 to use control data to control apparatuses incertain geographical regions to collect and transmit position referencedata more frequently, enabling it to modify the database 53 by fillingin the gaps in the database 53.

Also, the server 55 is able to reduce the load on the cellular networkby determining which geographical regions the database 53 has anadequate amount of position reference data for, and controlling theapparatuses in those regions to collect and transmit position referencedata less frequently.

Many of the communication access points represented in the database 53may have a fixed location. The server 53 may take steps to improve thequality of the position reference data 26 relating to these fixedcommunication points over time. This may be done, for example, byindicating a desired property for future position reference data 26 thatis sent to it for a particular geographical area (e.g. by specifyingthat future position reference data 26 for a particular geographicalarea must include position data that indicates a position determined bya satellite positioning receiver).

The location of some communication access points may change over time.The server 55 may update the position reference data 26 relating tothese access points using information received from the community ofapparatuses.

In an alternative example of the first method, the control data 28/53does not indicate to the mobile apparatus 10 the manner in which itshould collect position reference data 26 from WLAN access points.Instead, the control data 28/53 may explicitly or implicitly indicate tothe mobile apparatus 10 the circumstances under which collected positionreference data 26 is to be transmitted to the server 55. For example,the control data 28/53 may indicate: one or more geographical areas inwhich to transmit collected position reference data 26, a time or timeperiod at which to transmit collected position reference data 26, afrequency at which to transmit collected position reference data 26 or adesired property for transmitted position reference data 26.

The transmission of position reference data 26 by the mobile apparatus10 is “selectively controlled” in this alternative example bycontrolling the way in which collected position reference data 26 istransmitted by the mobile apparatus 10.

The collection circuitry 18 may collect position reference data 18whenever it is operational, or, alternatively, in accordance with asettings applied by a user. However, only some of the collected positionreference data 26 may be transmitted to the server 55 by the mobileapparatus 10.

FIG. 4 illustrates the fifth apparatus/server 55 illustrated in FIG. 2in more detail. The server 55 comprises processing circuitry 52,transmitter circuitry 54, receiver circuitry 56 and a memory 58.

The processing circuitry 52 is configured to receive an input from thereceiver circuitry 56, to provide an output to the transmitter circuitry54, and to read from and write to the memory 58. The processingcircuitry 12 is operationally coupled to the each element of circuitry54, 56, 58 and any number or combination of intervening elements canexist (including no intervening elements).

The transmitter circuitry 54 is configured to transmit control data28/53 to apparatuses. For example, the transmitter circuitry may beconfigured to transmit control data 28/53 to mobile apparatuses ortelephones via cellular base stations. The control data may be adatabase 53 of position reference data 26 and/or instruction data 28.This is explained in more detail below.

The receiver circuitry 56 is configured to receive position referencedata 26 from apparatuses. For example, the receiver circuitry 56 may beconfigured to receive position reference data 26 from mobile apparatusesor telephones via cellular base stations.

The comments made above with regard to the nature and form of theprocessing circuitry 12 and the memory 22 of the mobile apparatus 10also apply to the processing circuitry 52 and the memory 58 of theserver 55.

The memory 58 stores computer program instructions 57, positionreference data 26 and instruction data 28. The computer programinstructions 57 stored in the memory 58 control the operation of theserver 55 when loaded into the processing circuitry 52. The processingcircuitry 52 is, by reading the memory 58, able to load and execute thecomputer program instructions 57.

The computer program instructions 57 provide: a computer program,comprising: instructions for enabling an apparatus 10 to receive controldata 28/53, the received control data 28/53 relating to controllingcollection and/or transmission of position reference data 26 by theapparatus 10, the position reference data 26 being for assisting anotherapparatus to determine a position of the another apparatus based uponwireless signals received by the another apparatus; and instructions forenabling, in dependence upon the received control data 28/53, control ofat least one of: collection of position reference data by the apparatus10, and transmission, by the apparatus 10, of collected positionreference data 26.

The computer program instructions 57 may arrive at the server 55 via anysuitable delivery mechanism 49. The delivery mechanism 49 may be, forexample, a computer-readable storage medium, a computer program product,a memory device, a record medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD, an article ofmanufacture that tangibly embodies the computer program 57. The deliverymechanism 49 may be a signal configured to reliably transfer thecomputer program 57. The server 55 may propagate or transmit thecomputer program 57 as a computer data signal.

Second, third and fourth methods for controlling the collection andupload of position reference data 26 by an apparatus 10 will now bedescribed in reference to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7.

FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 2 in that it illustrates a first, second,third, fourth and fifth apparatuses 10, 50, 60, 70 and 55. As before,for clarity purposes, these apparatuses will be described below as beinga mobile apparatus 10, a cellular base station 50, WLAN access points60, 70 and a server 55 connected to the cellular base station 50 via acommunication link 59.

FIG. 5 differs from FIG. 2 in that it illustrates the mobile apparatus10 being located in a geographical macro-area 46. More specifically, theapparatus is located in a first geographical sub-area 40 located withinthe geographical macro-area 46. The geographical macro-area 46 alsoincludes two other geographical sub-areas 42, 44. The secondgeographical sub-area includes four WLAN access points 61, 71, 81 and91. The third geographical sub-area includes three WLAN access points62, 72, 82.

In some embodiments of the invention, each of the geographical sub-areas40, 42, 44 has its own cellular base station and the geographicalsub-areas can be considered to be micro-cells of the cellular network.It may be that each of the geographical sub-areas 40, 42, 44 has morethan one cellular base station. A further cellular base station may alsoservice the whole of the geographical macro-area 46. In this case, thegeographical macro-area 46 can be considered to be a macro-cell of thecellular network.

In FIG. 5, the cellular base station 50 and the server 55 areillustrated as being outside the geographical area 46 for clarity.However, in practice, the cellular base station 50 and/or the server 55may or may not be situated inside the geographical area 46. For example,the cellular base station 50 may service the whole of the geographicalarea 46, just the first geographical sub-area 40, or just part of thefirst geographical sub-area 40.

FIG. 6 illustrates a second method of controlling the collection and/orupload of position reference data 26 by a mobile apparatus 10.

The second method differs from the first method described above in that,at step 500 of FIG. 6, the processing circuitry 12 of the mobileapparatus 10 controls the transmitter circuitry 14 to transmit anindication of the mobile apparatus' position to the server 55.

For example, in one embodiment, positioning circuitry 20 of the mobileapparatus 10 may determine a position of the mobile apparatus 10, andthe mobile apparatus 10 may then transmit the determined position to theserver 55. FIG. 5 illustrates the determined position being sent in afirst radio signal 300 by the mobile apparatus 10.

For instance, determined position may be an exact geographical locationgiven by latitude and longitude measurements determined by a satellitepositioning receiver. Alternatively, the indicated position may be ageographical area (e.g. a geographical area indicated by a code relatingto a particular cellular network cell or cells).

In an alternative embodiment, the radio signal 300 may not include anindication of the determined position as data and instead the cellularbase station 50 or the server 55 may determine the position of themobile apparatus 10 by some other method (e.g. by using RSSI, by usingtime of flight measurements or by determining which cell of the cellularnetwork the mobile apparatus 10 is located in).

In this second method, the memory 58 of the server 55 stores differentportions of instruction data 28 for apparatuses (e.g. mobile telephones)that are located in different geographical sub-areas 40, 42, 44 withinthe geographical area 46. Once the position of the mobile apparatus 10has been determined by the server 55 as being within the firstgeographical sub-area 40, the processing circuitry 52 of the server 55retrieves the portion of instruction data 28 from the memory 52 thatrelates to the first geographical sub-area 40. The retrieved portion ofinstruction data 28 includes at least one parameter relating tocollection and/or transmission of collected position reference data 26by the mobile apparatus 10 in the first geographical sub-area 40.

The retrieved portion of instruction data 28 can be considered to be aform of “control data” (as mentioned earlier), because it comprisesinstructions that control the collection and/or transmission of positionreference data by the mobile apparatus 10. The instructions explicitlyindicate the manner in which the mobile apparatus 10 should collectand/or transmit position reference data 26 from WLAN access points.

The portion of instruction data 28 may, for example, include one or moreof the following parameters:

i) a parameter that indicates a time or time period of the day at whichposition reference data 26 is to be collected and/or transmitted by themobile apparatus 10;

ii) a parameter that indicates the frequency at which the mobileapparatus 10 is to collect position reference data and/or transmitposition reference data;

iii) a parameter that indicates the minimum RSSI that must be measuredfor a signal received from an access point in order to collect positionreference data 26 relating to that access point, otherwise positionreference data is not collected;

iv) a parameter that defines the frequency at which position referencedata 26 is collected and/or transmitted when satellite positioningcircuitry of the mobile apparatus 10 is operational;

v) a parameter that indicates a desired property of position referencedata 26 transmitted to the server 55, such as a parameter specifying aminimum accuracy level for a position indicated in position data 104 ofposition reference data 26 (e.g. specifying that the position must havebeen determined by a satellite positioning receiver)

vi) a parameter that indicates a minimum distance that the mobileapparatus 10 must move between collection of a first portion of positionreference data 26 from a first access point and collection of a secondportion of position reference data 26 from a second access point; and/or

vii) a parameter that defines the amount of space in the memory 22 ofthe mobile apparatus 10 that is to be allocated to storing collectedposition reference data 26. In the event that this memory space becomesfull, the mobile apparatus 10 either transmits the stored positionreference data 26 to the server 55 or deletes some of it from the memory22.

At step 510 of FIG. 6, the processing circuitry 52 of the server 55controls the transmitter circuitry 54 to transmit a retrieved portion ofinstruction data 28 to the mobile apparatus 10, via the cellular basestation 50. FIG. 5 illustrates the cellular base station 50 physicallyproviding the retrieved portion of instruction data 28 to the mobileapparatus 10 as data in a second radio signal 310, in reply to the firstradio signal 300. The second radio signal 310 is received by thereceiver circuitry 16 of the mobile apparatus 10.

At step 520, the processing circuitry 12 of the mobile apparatus 10analyzes the received portion of instruction data 28. At step 530, independence upon the analysis, the processing circuitry 12 selectivelycontrols the transmission of collected position reference data 26 to theserver 55, by either: i) controlling the way in which position referencedata is collected by mobile apparatus 10, or ii) controlling the way inwhich collected position reference data 26 is transmitted to the server55 (as explained in the first method in relation to FIG. 2).

In step 520, the processing circuitry 12 may, for example, analyze oneor more of the parameters in relation to an operational characteristicof the mobile apparatus 10 (e.g. a current time setting for the mobileapparatus 10). For instance, consider a situation where the portion ofinstruction data 28 received by the mobile apparatus 10 includes aparameter that specifies that the mobile apparatus 10 is to collectposition reference data 26 between 7 am and 11 am, but not at othertimes. The processing circuitry 12 analyzes the parameter in relation tothe current time setting of the mobile apparatus 10. If the current timesetting of the mobile apparatus 10 is between 7 am and 11 am, theprocessing circuitry 12 controls the collection circuitry 18 to collectposition reference data 26. If the current time setting is not between 7am and 11 am, the processing circuitry 12 does not control thecollection circuitry to collect position reference data 26.

In other words, a decision process is carried out by the processingcircuitry 12, a first result of which causes the processing circuitry 12to control the collection circuitry 18 to collect position referencedata 26, a second result of which causes the processing circuitry 12 notto control the collection circuitry 18 to collect position referencedata 26.

FIG. 5 illustrates the mobile apparatus 10 collecting position referencedata 26 from three WLAN access points 60, 70 and 80 via three separateradio signals 320, 330, 340. A portion 100 of position reference data 26is collected using each radio signal 320, 330, 340. Once the positionreference data 26 has been collected using the radio signals 320, 330,340 from the WLAN access points 60, 70, 80, it is transmitted by themobile apparatus 10 to the server 55 via the cellular base station 50.

FIG. 5 illustrates the mobile apparatus 10 transmitting the positionreference data 26 to the server 55 via the cellular base station 50using a third radio signal 350. The processing circuitry 52 of theserver 55 stores the received position reference data 26 in its database53.

In the second method, the server 55 may control, over time, when themobile apparatus 10 provides an updated indication of its position tothe server 55 (e.g. by including an appropriate parameter in theinstruction data 28 transmitted to the mobile apparatus 10). Thisenables the server 55 to keep providing the mobile apparatus 10 withup-to-date instructions, based on its position.

The parameter may, for example, instruct the mobile apparatus 10 toprovide an indication of its position: i) periodically, ii) when it hasmoved a certain distance from its earlier position, or iii) when it hasmoved from one geographical sub-area to another (e.g. from one cell ofcellular network to another).

Advantageously, in the second method described in relation to FIG. 6,the server 55 is able to control the collection and/or transmission ofposition reference data 26 differently for different geographical areas.Once the server 55 has received an indication of the position of anapparatus, it may send instructions to it that are specifically tailoredto that geographical area.

This enables the server 55 to control the amount of position referencedata 26 that is transmitted in the cellular network. For example, if theserver 55 has a sufficient amount of position reference data 26 for aparticular geographical area, it may control apparatuses in that area tocollect position reference data 26 less frequently and/or transmitposition reference data 26 to it less frequently, reducing the load onthe cellular network.

The server 55 is also able to instruct collecting apparatuses to focuson collecting and transmitting position reference data 26 in certaingeographical areas, enabling it to fill in the gaps in its database 53.

A third method of controlling the collection and/or upload of positionreference data 26 by a mobile apparatus 10 will now be described inrelation to FIGS. 5 and 7.

The third method differs from the second method in a number of ways.Firstly, the mobile apparatus 10 does not necessarily transmit anindication of its position to the server 55 in a first radio signal 300.

Secondly, the server 55 does not provide instructions to the mobileapparatus 10 that relate only to collection and/or transmission ofposition reference data 26 at the mobile telephone's current position.Instead, the server 55 provides the mobile apparatus 10 with a pluralityof different portions of instruction data 28, each portion relating to adifferent position (e.g. a different geographical sub-area). The mobileapparatus 10 determines which portion of instructions to use bydetermining its position (e.g. using the positioning circuitry 20) andthen determining which portion of the received instruction data 28relates to that position.

In more detail, in the third method, optionally, the apparatus 10initially transmits a request to the server 55, asking to receive thedatabase 53 of position reference data 26 stored in the memory 58 of theserver 55. FIG. 5 illustrates the mobile apparatus 10 transmitting therequest in the form of a first radio signal 300.

In response receiving the request, at step 600 of FIG. 7, the processingcircuitry 12 of the server 55 retrieves the database 53 of positionreference data 26 from the memory 58 and controls the transmittercircuitry 54 to transmit it to mobile apparatus 10 via the cellular basestation 50. Alternatively, the server 55 may transmit the database 53 tothe mobile apparatus 10 without having received a request.

The server 55 also provides instruction data 28 to the mobile apparatus10 with the database 53 that includes a first portion of instructionsrelating to collection and/or transmission of position reference data 26by apparatuses the first geographical sub-area 40, a second portion ofinstructions that relate to collection and/or transmission of positionreference data 26 by apparatuses the second geographical sub-area 42 anda third portion of instructions that relate to collection and/ortransmission of position reference data 26 by apparatuses the thirdgeographical sub-area.

The instruction data 28 may be transmitted as separate data to thedatabase 53, or, alternatively, the instruction data 28 may be embeddedwithin the database 53. Also, the database 53 and/or the instructiondata 28 may be embedded in other data.

At step 610, the positioning circuitry 20 of the mobile apparatus 10determines the position of the apparatus 10. The processing circuitry 12analyzes the received instruction data 28 in relation to the determinedposition, in order to determine which portion of the receivedinstruction data 28 relates to the position of the mobile apparatus 10.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 5, the mobile apparatus 10 is locatedin the first geographical sub-area 40. The processing circuitry 12determines, using the position determined by the positioning circuitry20, that the relevant portion of instructions are those relating to thefirst geographical sub-area 40. The processing circuitry 12 thenanalyzes those instructions and, at step 620 of FIG. 7, selectivelycontrols the collection circuitry 18 to collect and/or transmit positionreference data 26 in the first geographical sub-area 40 in accordancewith those instructions. The selective control of collection and/ortransmission of position reference data is similar to that previouslydescribed in relation to FIGS. 2 and 5.

A fourth method of controlling the collection and/or upload of positionreference data 26 by an apparatus/mobile apparatus 10 will now bedescribed in relation to FIG. 5.

The fourth method is similar to the third method in that a database 53of position reference data 26 is transmitted to the mobile apparatus 10by the server 55 (as explained above in relation to step 600 of FIG. 7).

However, the fourth method differs from the third method in that noinstruction data 28 is sent to the mobile apparatus 10 along with thedatabase 53. Instead, the processing circuitry 12 of the mobileapparatus 10 is configured to analyze the position reference data 26 inthe received database 53 and to selectively control the collectioncircuitry 18 to collect and/or transmit position reference data independence upon the analysis.

For example, the processing circuitry 12 may determine from its analysisof the position reference data 26 in the database 53 that the database53 already includes accurate portions 100 of position reference data 26for some WLAN access points. The processing circuitry 12 may onlycontrol the collection circuitry 18 to collect portions of positionreference data 26 for WLAN access points that are not already accuratelyrepresented in the database 53.

Also, the processing circuitry 12 may determine that the database 53already contains a sufficient number of portions 100 of positionreference data 26 in some geographical areas (e.g. the firstgeographical sub-area 40) but not in others (e.g. the second and thirdgeographical sub-areas 42, 44). In this case, the processing circuitry12 may control the collection circuitry 18 differently depending uponthe location of the mobile apparatus 10 (e.g. to collect and transmitposition reference data 26 less frequently when the mobile apparatus 10is in the first geographical sub-area 40 than when it is in the secondand third geographical sub-areas 42, 44).

In the fourth method, the database 53 of position reference data 26 thatis provided to the mobile apparatus 10 by the server 55 can beconsidered to be “control data”, because it implicitly indicates to themobile apparatus 10 the manner in which it should collect and/ortransmit position reference data 26.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram of a method of uploading portions ofposition reference data 26 to the server 55 and forming a database 53that includes the uploaded position reference data.

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic of a hierarchy 699 of a cellulartelephone network. This particular network is a 2G network, but it willbe apparent to those skilled in the art that embodiments of theinvention relate to any type of cellular telephone network. The areaencompassed by the rectangular box 700 represents the area of a country.The country 700 has a mobile country code MCC₁. The area encompassed bythe line 710, located within the country MCC₁, represents the networkcoverage area of a cellular telephone network within the country. Thecellular network has a mobile network code MNC₁.

In FIG. 9, the cellular network MNC₁ is split into first and secondlocal areas. The dotted lines 720 and 730 illustrate the areas ofcoverage provided by the first and second local areas within thecellular network MNC₁. The first and second local areas have the codesLAC₁ and LAC₂ respectively, and can be considered to be geographicalsub-areas of MNC₁. While only two local areas LAC₁, LAC₂ are illustratedin FIG. 9 for clarity, in practice, the cellular network MNC₁ is likelyto have many more local areas. The aggregate area encompassed by thelocal areas would be equal to the coverage area provided by the cellularnetwork MNC₁.

The first local area LAC₁ is illustrated as having first, second andthird cells having the codes CI₁, CI₂ and CI₃ respectively. The cellsCI₁, CI₂ and CI₃ can be considered to be geographical sub-areas of LAC₁.

No cells are illustrated in the second local area LAC₂. It will beappreciated that, in practice, the first local area LAC₁ may containmany more cells and the second local area LAC₂ may also contain a largenumber of cells. The aggregate area encompassed by the cells in a localarea would be equal to the size of the local area.

At block 715 of FIG. 8, the receiver circuitry 56 of the server 55receives a plurality of portions of position reference data 26 that havebeen uploaded by a plurality of apparatuses. Each portion 100 ofposition reference data 26 identifies the position of a WLAN accesspoint within a cell in a local area of a cellular network. Each cross inFIG. 9 represents the location of a WLAN access point.

At step 725, the processing circuitry 12 of the server 52 categorizesthe portions 100 of received position reference data 26 into sets. MNC₁represents a first set (hereinafter the MNC₁ set). All of the WLANaccess points are located within the area encompassed by MNC₁, so all ofthe WLAN access points are contained in the MNC₁ set.

LAC₁ and LAC₂ represent second and third sets (hereinafter the LAC1 andLAC₂ sets). The LAC₁ and LAC₂ sets are contained within the MNC₁ set.All of the WLAN access points in FIG. 1 are contained in the LAC₁ set.No WLAN access points are contained in the LAC₂ set.

CI₁, CI₂ and CI₃ represent fourth, fifth and six sets (hereinafter theCI₁, CI₂ and CI₃ sets). It can be seen from FIG. 9 that the CI₁ setcontains four WLAN access points, the CI₂ set contains five WLAN accesspoints and the CI₃ set contains six WLAN access points.

At step 735 of FIG. 8, a version number is associated with each set. Forexample, when the database 53 is initially formed, each of the setsMCC1, MNC₁, LAC₁, LAC₂, CI₁, CI₂ and CI₃ may be associated with theversion number 1.

At step 745, the processing circuitry 52 stores the sets of positionreference data 26 and their associated version numbers as data in thememory 58.

FIG. 10 illustrates a method of providing a database of positionreference data 26 to a mobile apparatus 10.

At step 900 of FIG. 10, the processing circuitry 52 of the server 55retrieves the database 53 of position reference data 26 from the memory58 and controls the transmitter circuitry 54 to provide it to the mobileapparatus 10. In some embodiments of the invention, only a portion ofthe database 53 is provided to the mobile apparatus 10. The database 53enables the user of the mobile apparatus 10 to identify the location ofWLAN access points.

Instruction data 28 that comprises instructions which control thecollection and/or transmission of position reference data by the mobileapparatus 10 (as described above in relation to FIG. 6) may or may notbe transmitted to the mobile apparatus 10 along with the database 53.

The instruction data 28 may be transmitted as separate data to thedatabase 53, or, alternatively, the instruction data 28 may be embeddedwithin the database 53. Also, the database 53 and/or the instructiondata 28 may be embedded in other data.

In a situation where a new WLAN access point is positioned in the areaencompassed by the cell CI₁ and the position of an existing WLAN accesspoint in CI₂ is changed, at step 910 of FIG. 10, further portions 100 ofposition reference data 26 are uploaded to the server 55 by one or moreapparatuses. A first portion of the position reference data 26 relatesto the new WLAN access point in CI₁. A second position of the positionreference data 26 relates to the new position of the moved WLAN accesspoint in CI₂. These portions of the position reference data 26 arereceived by the receiver circuitry 56 of the server 55.

At step 920 of FIG. 10, the processing circuitry 52 of the server 55determines which sets the received portions of further positionreference data 26 relate to. The processing circuitry 52 determines,from the first portion of further position reference data 26, that thenew WLAN access point is positioned in the areas encompassed by MCC₁,MNC₁, LAC₁ and CI₁. The processing circuitry 52 also determines, fromthe second portion of further position reference data, that the newlocation of the moved WLAN access point is within the areas MCC₁, MNC₁,LAC₁ and CI₂.

At step 930, the processing circuitry 12 updates the database 53 storedin the memory 58 using the received first and second portions of furtherposition reference data 26. That is, the first portion of furtherposition reference data relating to the new WLAN access point is addedto the MCC₁, MNC₁, LAC₁ and CI₁ sets. The processing circuitry 12determines, by comparing the identification code in the second portionof position reference data with those already stored in the database 53,that a portion of position reference data 26 already exists for themoved WLAN access point. It determines that the exiting portion ofposition reference data relates to a different location to thatindicated in the second portion of further position reference data. Theprocessing circuitry 52 then updates the database with the new positioninformation from the second portion of further position reference data.

FIG. 11 illustrates a schematic of the updated database 53. By comparingFIG. 11 with FIG. 9, it can be seen that the CI₁ set includes a new WLANaccess point and the location of an existing WLAN access point the CI₂set has changed.

At step 940 of FIG. 10, the processing circuitry 12 updates the versionnumbers associated with the sets that have been updated with the firstand second portions of further position reference data. The MCC₁, MNC₁,LAC₁, CI₁ and CI₂ sets were updated in step 930, so these sets are giventhe version number 2. The sets CI₃ and LAC₂ were not updated in step930, so the version number for these sets remains at 1.

At step 950 of FIG. 10, mobile apparatus 10 transmits a signal to theserver, via a cellular base station, to request an update to the mobileapparatus' stored database of position reference data 26. The requestmay indicate which sets of position reference data are stored in themobile apparatus' database and which version number each set has. Inthis example, the mobile apparatus 10 has a database corresponding tothat in FIG. 9 and each of the sets has a version number equal to 1.

The processing circuitry 52 of the server 55 analyzes the request madeby the apparatus 10 and determines that the server's database 53contains more up-to date position reference data for the MCC₁, MNC₁,LAC₁, CI₁ and CI₂ sets than the mobile apparatus' database. Theprocessing circuitry 52 then controls the transmitter circuitry 54 totransmit position reference data 26 for these sets to the mobileapparatus 10. The position reference data for the CI₃ and LAC₂ sets isnot provided by the server 55 to the mobile apparatus 10, becausedatabase 53 of the server 55 and the database of the mobile apparatus 10contain the same position reference data for these sets.

In embodiments of the present invention, a server need not update thewhole of an apparatus' stored database of position reference data eachtime an update is requested by the apparatus. Advantageously, onlyupdated portions of the server's database 53 are provided to theapparatus, reducing the amount of bandwidth that would otherwise berequired to update the apparatus's stored database.

The blocks illustrated in the FIGS. 6, 7, 8 and 10 may represent stepsin a method and/or sections of code in the computer program 24, 57. Theillustration of a particular order to the blocks does not necessarilyimply that there is a required or preferred order for the blocks and theorder and arrangement of the block may be varied. Furthermore, it may bepossible for some steps to be omitted.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described in thepreceding paragraphs with reference to various examples, it should beappreciated that modifications to the examples given can be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention as claimed. For example, inthe embodiments of the invention described above, the apparatus 50 isdescribed as being a cellular base station, and the communication accesspoints 60, 61, 62, 70, 71, 72, 80, 81, 82, 92 are described as beingWLAN access points.

However, in other embodiments of the invention, this need not be thecase. For example, the apparatus 10 could be a personal music player ora laptop computer and the communication access points 50, 60, 61, 62,70, 71, 72, 80, 81, 82, 92 could operate using a differentcommunications protocol to cellular and WLAN. For example, all of thecommunication access points 50, 60, 61, 62, 70, 71, 72, 80, 81, 82, 92could be Bluetooth access points.

Features described in the preceding description may be used incombinations other than the combinations explicitly described.

Although functions have been described with reference to certainfeatures, those functions may be performable by other features whetherdescribed or not.

Although features have been described with reference to certainembodiments, those features may also be present in other embodimentswhether described or not.

Whilst endeavoring in the foregoing specification to draw attention tothose features of the invention believed to be of particular importanceit should be understood that the Applicant claims protection in respectof any patentable feature or combination of features hereinbeforereferred to and/or shown in the drawings whether or not particularemphasis has been placed thereon.

1. An apparatus, comprising: processing circuitry; at least one memorystoring computer program instructions that, when executed by theprocessing circuitry, cause at least the following to be performed:analyzing received control data relating to controlling one or more ofcollection of position reference data or transmission of collectedposition reference data, wherein the position reference data isconfigured to assist another apparatus to determine a position of theanother apparatus based at least in part upon wireless signals receivedby the another apparatus; and controlling, in dependence upon theanalysis of the received control data, at least one of: collection ofposition reference data and transmission of collected position referencedata.
 2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein analyzing thereceived control data comprises analyzing at least one parameter of thecontrol data.
 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the atleast one parameter indicates at least one desired property of collectedposition reference data; and at least one of: collection of positionreference data having the desired property and transmission of collectedposition reference data having the desired property is controlled.
 4. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one parameterindicates a frequency at which collected position reference data is tobe one or more of collected or transmitted; and at least one of:collection of position reference data and transmission of collectedposition reference data is controlled according to the indicatedfrequency.
 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at leastone parameter is analyzed in relation to at least one operationalcharacteristic of the apparatus; and at least one of: collection ofposition reference data and transmission of collected position referencedata is controlled in dependence upon the analysis.
 6. (canceled)
 7. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the at least one parameterrelates to a time or time period for controlling when collected positionreference data is transmitted, and the operational characteristic of theapparatus relates to a current time or time period.
 8. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 5, wherein the at least one parameter relates to aposition, and the at least one operational characteristic relates to adetermined position of the apparatus.
 9. (canceled)
 10. (canceled) 11.(canceled)
 12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receivedcontrol data comprises received position reference data relating to afirst geographical area and being for assisting the apparatus todetermine a position of the apparatus within the first geographicalarea; and wherein at least one of: collection of position reference datain the first geographical area and transmission position reference datais controlled in dependence upon a determined position of the apparatusand the received position reference data relating to the firstgeographical area.
 13. (canceled)
 14. (canceled)
 15. (canceled) 16.(canceled)
 17. (canceled)
 18. (canceled)
 19. A method, comprising:analyzing, at an apparatus, control data relating to controlling one ormore of collection of position reference data or transmission ofcollected position reference data, the position reference data beingconfigured to assist another apparatus to determine a position of theanother apparatus based upon wireless signals received by the anotherapparatus; and controlling, in dependence upon the analysis of thereceived control data, at least one of: collection of position referencedata and transmission of collected position reference data.
 20. A methodas claimed in claim 19, wherein analyzing received control datacomprises analyzing at least one parameter of the control data.
 21. Amethod as claimed in claim 20, wherein the at least one parameterindicates at least one desired property of collected position referencedata; and at least one of: collection of position reference data havingthe desired property and transmission of collected position referencedata having the desired property is controlled.
 22. A method as claimedin claim 20, wherein the at least one parameter indicates a frequency atwhich position reference data is to be one or more of collected ortransmitted; and at least one of: collection of position reference dataand transmission of collected position reference data is controlled inaccordance with the indicated frequency.
 23. A method as claimed inclaim 20, wherein the at least one parameter is analyzed in relation toat least one operational characteristic of the apparatus; and at leastone of: collection of position reference data and transmission ofcollected position reference data is controlled in dependence upon theanalysis.
 24. (canceled)
 25. A method as claimed in claim 23, whereinthe at least one parameter relates to a time or time period forcontrolling when collected position reference data is transmitted, andthe operational characteristic of the apparatus relates to a currenttime or time period.
 26. A method as claimed in claim 23, wherein the atleast one parameter relates to a position, and the at least oneoperational characteristic relates to a determined position of theapparatus.
 27. (canceled)
 28. (canceled)
 29. (canceled)
 30. (canceled)31. (canceled)
 32. (canceled)
 33. (canceled)
 34. (canceled) 35.(canceled)
 36. (canceled)
 37. (canceled)
 38. A non-transitory computerreadable medium storing computer program instructions that when executedby processing circuitry, cause at least the following to be performed:analyzing, at an apparatus, received control data relating to one ormore of controlling collection of position reference data ortransmission of collected position reference data, the positionreference data being configured to assist another apparatus to determinea position of the another apparatus based upon wireless signals receivedby the another apparatus; and controlling, in dependence upon thereceived control data, control of at least one of: collection ofposition reference data and transmission of collected position referencedata.
 39. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim38, wherein analyzing the received control data comprises analyzing atleast one parameter of the control data.
 40. A non-transitory computerreadable medium as claimed in claim 39, wherein the at least oneparameter is analyzed in relation to at least one operationalcharacteristic of the apparatus; and at least one of: collection ofposition reference data and transmission of collected position referencedata is controlled in dependence upon the analysis.
 41. (canceled) 42.(canceled)
 43. (canceled)
 44. (canceled)
 45. (canceled)
 46. (canceled)47. (canceled)
 48. (canceled)
 49. (canceled)
 50. (canceled) 51.(canceled)
 52. (canceled)
 53. (canceled)
 54. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the control data relates to one or more of controllingcollection of position reference data by the apparatus transmission ofcollected position reference data by the apparatus.
 55. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 1, further comprising: transmitter circuitry configuredto transmit collected position reference data.